Square Root of Daphne
by spicyfriedtofu
Summary: Meet Daphne Cree, a soc, captain of the cheerleading team and an overall overachiever. Use to being in charge Daphne's world comes to a confusing and sudden halt when she becomes Ponyboy Curtis' math tutor. Thrown into greasers turf will Daphne navigate the complicated and messy world of the greasers? Or will she lose all focus due to a certain green eyed elf?
1. Chapter 1: Say What!

_A/N: Hi there people! This is pretty much my first Outsiders Fanfiction so please feel free to comment and criticize (within reason)._

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"Ponyboy Curtis,"

"P-pardon?" Keeping my smile in place I blinked away any signs of confusion from my eyes. Had I just heard him say _Ponyboy?_

"Ponyboy Curtis. That's who you will be tutoring Ms. Cree." Mr. Johnston repeated. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose Mr. Johnston focused his deep blue eyes on me. "Is that a problem?"

Clearing my throat, I shook my head, "No, no it's fine. It's just uh, I was just curious what subject I'll be tutoring um, _Ponyboy_ Curtis." Wow. Did I just say that out loud? Turning my eye slightly I scanned the room quickly wondering if I was being filmed. I mean this had to be a joke right? Why would my principal call me into his office in the middle of my lunch period to tell me out of the blue that I will now be tutoring a sophomore named Ponyboy Curtis? Seriously, Ponyboy- if there was a student in this school who had a name like _that_ I'd definitely know.

"Ah, well you will be tutoring Mr. Curtis in mathematics. According to Mrs. Freedman Mr. Curtis is struggling with the in class work and exams yet shows no troubles with the homework. It may be due to the fact that he is receiving help at home which is fine," Mr. Johnston said, pushing his glasses up again he slid a piece of paper across his desk so I could look at it "however, it appears that Mr. Curtis is still struggling with the concepts so Mrs. Freedman has requested a tutor and seeing as how you _are_ part of the tutoring department _and_ specialize in mathematics I've decided to assign you to-"

"Ponyboy Curtis," I finished with a slightly raised brow.

"Exactly, is that alright with you?" Mr. Johnston asked entwining his fingers together and placing them under his chin, "of course you will be compensated for your time, about 5.50$ a month."

Once again keeping my smile I tried to fight off the urge to jump and cheer. An extra 5.50$ every month or at least till the end of the school year was definitely going to help out my college fund! Smiling even wider now I nodded my head, "of course that's alright." Glancing at the sheet that Mr. Johnston had slipped towards me I studied it. Hmm, looks like _Ponyboy_ was struggling with Algebra 2 and Geometry. Nothing too challenging, in fact I was positive that I could come up with a simple placement test before meeting the kid just too see his strengths and weakness in the subjects.

Pulling the sheet into my lap, I folded the paper neatly and tucked it into my book bag that was next to my leg before looking up at Mr. Johnston again, "So when and where will I be meeting Mr. Curtis?"

"Well seeing as how you are captain of the cheer team and have an extra block at the end of every odd day Mrs. Freedman has suggested that you tutor at Mr. Curtis' home- only if you are alright with that and his guardian's approves of course."

 _Guardian_? Does this mean he doesn't have parents? Shaking my head in order to dispel my distracting thoughts I offered an easy smile and shrugged "sure, that's alright with me. I mean my grandma won't mind if I'm hour or two later than usual. I'll just have to check with my boss down at the Dairy Palace to make sure that's fine with him but other than that I shouldn't have any problems!"

"Then that settles that," jotting down some information on a note and sliding it towards me he smiled "I'll inform Mrs. Freedman later today to hold Mr. Curtis back after class this afternoon so you and Mr. Curtis can go over the details and sign the contracts."

Getting to my feet, I slung my book bag over my shoulder and nodded, "okay, thanks. I'll be sure to thank Mrs. Freedman too."

"Of course, now enjoy the rest of your lunch Ms. Cree."

Waving my goodbyes I exited the principal office and started for the cafeteria. Glancing at my wrist watch I noted that I only had about 10 more minutes to get through my the rest of my turkey sandwich before going to P.E. Quickening my pace I dashed into the cafeteria and made my way towards my friends who were luckily still waiting by my abandoned turkey sandwich.

"Welcome back Daphne," Millie Lanes sang as I slipped into my seat next to her. Picking up her diet cola drink my best friend waggled a bleached blond brow at me, "so did you get in any trouble?"

"What trouble could little miss perfect get into?" Sarah Knowles snorted.

"Touché," Millie hummed, "then did that old pervert call you in for some Hanky Spanky action then?"

Rolling my eyes I ignored my both of my best friends' comments and bit into my sandwich.

"Geez, can you lay off the porno during lunch Millie?" Kayla Peters whined while pushing her salad away from her with a scowl "you are kind of making me lose my appetite!"

Rolling her big brown eyes, Millie reached over and plucked a tomato from Kayla's abandoned salad, "sorry princess but it's not _my_ fault that you decided to slather your salad in creamy ranch sauce."

"Yeah but it is your fault that you made me think of cum!" Kayla retorted with a huff.

"And there goes my appetite." I moaned pushing my food away from me.

"Opps," Millie shrugged and reached for my half eaten sandwich which I happily pushed towards her.

"But seriously, why did you get called in?" Sarah asked with a slight pinch between her brows "you didn't get in any serious troubles right? I mean you couldn't have especially since we have cheer nationals coming up,"

"Not to mention we are cheering for the upcoming football and baseball games this season," Kayla added who was now sipping from Millie's soda can.

"No, nothing to worry about, Mr. Johnston just offered me a tutoring position." I coolly answered as I gathered all our plastic baggies and rolled them into a tight, small ball.

"When he knows that you are totally swamped with school, work and cheer practice? Not cool." Millie huffed, "can't he find someone else to do it? I mean it's not like he's paying you a fortune and besides you are busy as it is!"

"No, it's alright!" I replied a little too quickly. Inhaling from my nose I shot an easy smile to the questioning looks of my friends, "I mean I am making 5.50$ every month which is okay. A little extra spending money you know?"

"I don't know, Millie has a point," Sarah hummed, "you are pretty busy and we can't have our cheer captain going all MIA on us just before our big season. In fact we still haven't started with our recruitment!"

Letting out a large sigh my friends all instantly knew that I had completely forgot about recruitment. We were only four weeks into the beginning of our junior year and I was already swamped with work.

"Okay, don't worry about recruitment," Sarah said, "Millie, Kayla and I can handle that but seriously, you might want to reconsider that tutoring thing. It's not like you need the extra money anyway."

Wrong. I totally needed the money but I couldn't let them know that, I couldn't let _anybody_ know that. Luckily before anything else could be said about the tutoring gig the bell signaling the end of lunch went off. Gathering all our trash we threw them in the garbage and made our way towards the double doors.

"We'll talk more about this later," Millie said shooting me a mock stern look "but I'll see you guys at practice later!" Waving her goodbyes, Millie pushed weaved through the throng of students pouring out of the cafeteria along with Sarah towards their English class.

Going in the opposite direction, Kayla and I made our way to the girls' gym locker room and changed into our customary gray shorts and plain white tee shirts. Exiting the locker rooms Kayla gathered handfuls of her unruly curly red hair and secured it into a somewhat neat looking ponytail. Since we were juniors we had co-ed gym class outside on the football field with Ms. Hurst. Yes, our gym teacher's name is Ms. Hurst and boy does she live up to her name.

"I can't wait to see Grant!" Kayla suddenly squealed.

Snapping back to reality I couldn't help but laugh at my friend's dorky yet cute antics. "Didn't you just see him last period in Advances Mathematics- you know that class you are failing right now?"

"Yes," Kayla sang ignoring my jab, "but Mr. Williams makes it impossible for us to even talk!"

"Thank goodness," I joked "It's bad enough seeing you guys make out but it's even worse hear you two talk to each other in your annoying baby voices."

Sticking out her tongue Kayla jogged onto the field with me close behind. Just as we reached the middle of the field where Ms. Hurst was standing the bell signaling the beginning of fifth period went off.

"Okay kids today we are going be playing touch football!" Ms. Hurst yelled causing everyone to groan. Even though I didn't mind playing football I had to admit it was way too hot for us to be running around the field and tackling each other over a football. "Don't give me that attitude people, now give me five laps around the field!"

Sighing out loud I made my way towards the edge of the field with Kayla. Just as we reached the track Kayla suddenly let out an ear piercing screech. Covering my ears quickly, I looked over at her and saw that Grant DeGrandes had his arms wrapped around Kayla and was swinging her playfully around.  
"Hey beautiful," Grant laughed as he placed his girlfriend on the ground gave her a quick peck on the lips.

Blushing brightly Kayla giggled, "hey there handsome,"

"Oh gross, enough with the pet talk guys!"

Laughing at my comment Grant bumped my shoulder as we started off in a steady jog "Hey Cree, what's up? I heard you were called into the office."

"Yup, but it was nothing serious, the ol' pervert just wanted to offer a tutoring position." Kayla answered for me,

Shooting her a mock glare I huffed, "why does everyone keep calling Mr. Johnston a pervert?"

"Uh because last year someone caught him reading some playboy bunny magazines in the office with his hands awfully close to his crotch?" Kayla giggled,

"Can't argue with the facts," Grant chuckled, "but are you going to be alright with all the extra work? You aren't going to be giving any half ass cheers at my games right?"

"Of course not, not for the star quarterback," I replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Great," bumping my shoulder again Grant let out a laugh, "but who did he ask you to tutor? Anybody I know?"

Thinking for a moment I tried to recall the name. "Um, I don't think so, he's a sophomore called Ponyboy-"

"Ponyboy?" Kayla echoed, "What kind of name is that?"

"I think it's was a nickname of some sort," I replied slowly. It had to be a nickname right? Sure, people do come up with creative names like Jessica that had a confusing combination of 'k' and 'y' in it but I don' think anyone would actually look at their child and name it Ponyboy right off the bat.

"You mean Ponyboy Curtis? Yeah I know him- he's that greaser in my English class." Grant said with a slight frown on his face.

Halting her jog Kayla let out a wail and shot me a disgusted look, "wait, you are tutoring a _greaser_? Uh you can't do that!"

Grabbing her arm I urged her to continue jogging before shooting her a look of my own, "why not? We have greasers in our class too and that hasn't been a problem for you,"

"Yeah but you've never tutored a greaser before! And you are literally going to be _talking_ to a greaser. Like literally talking to one- alone!" Stopping again, Kayla did a little shiver dance "I mean gross! You have to go and tell Mr. Johnston that you cannot do it!"

 _And you have to shut up_ , I thought. Swallowing my anger I fought the urge to roll my eyes at Kayla's overdramatic reaction. She didn't understand how badly I needed the money but then again it's not like I volunteered that information. But still, if I ever did volunteer such information then I'd definitely be classified as a greaser rather than a soc- which wasn't something that would help me out especially since I happened to be the only black/ Native American girl in East Edge High, Tulsa.

"Kay has a point," Grant said, "besides is it even safe?"

Rolling my eyes this time I snorted, "Well if I go missing at least you know who to go after."

Thinking that I had made a joke, both Grant and Kayla burst out laughing much to my annoyance. Balling my fists I started to run a little faster. I suddenly wanted to ditch the two of them. Even though I wasn't technically a greaser I still didn't like the label and the treatment that came with the label, after all I had had firsthand experience of being treated differently when I first moved here.

Thankfully the sound of Ms. Hurst's whistle sounded across the field which meant that it was time for us to start the football game. Heading towards the middle of the field Kayla tapped my shoulder,

"Seriously though, I think you should reconsider it, y'know, for safety purposes."

"Uh, I'll think about it." Wiggling away from her grasp I avoided further discussion by throwing myself into the game.

Three rounds, five hard tackles and a sore right shoulder later the game was finally over. Jogging off the field I avoided Kayla and Grant who were currently trading spit and made my way into the changing room.

Since today was an even day I only had five periods instead of six; however, I still had cheer practice so it meant that I would still be in school until four and _then_ I would have to head down to Dairy Palace for my three hour shift which pretty much guaranteed that I'd be home by nine at the latest.

Quickly changing into my cheer practice uniform- a large baggy grey top with 'wild cats' written across in burgundy and matching burgundy shorts- I spotted one of the girls on the team and told her to tell Millie to take over captain duties since I had an appointment to get to first.

Taking the stairs two by two at a time I gathered my hair into a high ponytail and secured it with a ribbon. Before heading towards Mrs. Freedman's class I darted into the main office first so I could call Duncan at Dairy Palace to tell him that I'd be an hour late but would make up for it. After wrestling with Duncan over how I'd make up for that extra hour I called my grandma to let her know that I'd be later than usual tonight so she didn't have to wait up for me which she insisted that she still would which caused me to giggle. After leaving the office I headed towards Mrs. Freedman's classroom.

Carefully reading the numbers on the doors I finally spotted room 103. Peeking through the window I could see Mrs. Freedman sitting at her and talking to someone who was out of my view.

Taking a deep breath I opened the door and greeted Mrs. Freedman with a small smile, "Hi Mrs. Freedman, Mr. Johnston told me that I should stop by after my class and come here to meet Pony- uh, Mr. Curtis?"

"Ah yes Ms. Cree," Adjusting her cat-eye glasses, Mrs. Freedman tilted her head towards a student sitting in the corner at the back of the room, "I've asked Ponyboy to wait for you and since you are here I'll just give you two the contracts and let you two discuss the tutoring schedule. Oh, I've also included the syllabus so you can see what topics will be covered."

Taking the papers from her I thanked her and headed towards Ponyboy. Glancing behind me quickly, I noticed Mrs. Freedman was now correcting a pile of what I assumed to be pop quizzes.

Sliding into a seat across Ponyboy I studied the boy before me. For starters, for someone named Ponyboy he certainly didn't _look_ like a Ponyboy. Sitting across me was a boy who couldn't have been any older than fourteen (maybe) with reddish/ light brown hair that was long and slicked back in the signature greaser look. He wasn't very tall nor was he big; however, even from his seat position I could tell that he was probably very lean and quick. When my eyes finally settled on his face I noticed that his own green-grayish eyes were darting every which way across my own profile. For a second I was a little self-conscious but that feeling was immediately squashed by a little bit of annoyance. This wasn't the first time I caught someone looking at me like that.

Like I said, I was the only black/ Native American girl in the school- and probably Tulsa. But still that didn't excuse people from staring at me like I just crawled out from the woods. I had some pretty normal human looking features too. For starters, I had a little past shoulder length, straight black hair that parted in the middle and framed my oval shaped face. I had slightly slanted almond shaped eyes with brown hazel eyes. My skin was an interesting combination of milk chocolate with red undertones. I wasn't the tallest girl around but I do consider myself tall at 5'7. Like Ponyboy I'm pretty lean too but with an athletic build- which often caused people to assume that I'm fourteen rather than sixteen.

Sticking my hand across the desk I smiled my best smile, "Hi, I'm Daphne Cree."

Shaking his head slightly as if to dispel his confusion, Ponyboy hesitantly reached out for my own hand and shook it, "I'm Ponyboy Curtis. Nice to meet you," he mumbled,

"You too," pulling out the letter Mr. Johnston had given me I looked over it, "So I've been told that you are struggling a bit with math, geometry and Algebra in particular."

"Yeah," Ponyboy mumbled again, a blush creeping up from his neck.

"So what exactly about geo and algebra do you find hard?" I asked.

Scratching the back of his neck, his eyes darted across the room and settled on the clock, "I don't know, I just find math in general kind of hard."

"But I heard you don't struggle much with your homework."

Shrugging at my comment his gaze fell on me, "that's because my older brother looks over my homework and tells me which ones I have to redo."

"Hmm, I see." Jotting that down on the sheet before me, I looked up at him again, "okay well once I start tutoring you you're going to have to ask him to stop doing that so I can mark down your progress."

Grunting a reply I couldn't help but notice a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Ignoring that for a moment I remembered I had to ask him something, "that reminds me, I was told that due to our conflicting schedule that it would probably be best for me to drop by your house and tutor you which is alright with me but I just need to know if it's okay with you,"

Pausing for a moment, Ponyboy's steady gaze studied me for a minute before shrugging slightly, "that's fine with me,"

"Great," Grinning I pulled out the contracts and handed him one, "okay, so the days I'm available for are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5pm to 7pm- but then again I'm not sure if you'd like talking about math on a Friday afternoon so I wouldn't mind coming by on Saturday but that would be in the evening since I work during the day."

"Um, Fridays are fine…" Ponyboy said thoughtfully,

"If you like we could alternate days?"

"I guess that would be alright too."

"Okay. Your teacher gave me a copy of the topics that are being covered this year so I'm going to basically make a placement test for you to see where you are with the first couple topics and then make up a workbook for you," I explained while taking down some notes, "I'll also be helping you with your homework but mind you- I won't be giving you the answers!"

"I wouldn't have imagined you would," Ponyboy replied with a small yet infectious grin.

Swatting the air in front of me, I wagged a pen at him "good because every student I've tutored in the past has expected me to just hand over the answers. I want you to understand what you are doing so be prepared to buckle down. Besides that there is nothing more I can tell you…so any questions?"

Wiggling a bit in his seat I could tell he had a question in mind. Darting his eyes across the room again Ponyboy scratched the back of his neck, "when do we start?"

"Well since I'm busy today it can't be today but it can be a soon as you are ready."

"I guess we can start tomorrow…"

"Then I'll drop by tomorrow, uh, where do you live though?" I asked sheepishly once I realized I had no clue about where he lived.

Rattling off his information I quickly jotted down everything. "Any other questions?"

Once again, Ponyboy wiggled in his seat. I could tell he really wanted to ask something but for whatever reason he wouldn't spit it out. Finally after clearing his throat a couple times he opened his mouth, "Um, I was just wondering…are you-"

"Am I black? Yes I am but I'm also Native American and _no_ I don't have pet wolves, no I don't live in a tent and yes I said I'm _also_ African American. I'm mixed."

Blushing heavily at my sudden outburst I couldn't help but narrow my eyes slightly at him. I was so tired of people always asking me the same annoying questions.

"That's not what I wanted to know…I wanted to know if you were a soc."

Blinking a few times it was my turn to blush at the fact that I had completely misinterpreted the situation, "Um, yes?"

"And you don't have a problem with coming by my house?"

"No," I answered, "Why, should I?"

Raising an eyebrow at me Ponyboy met my eyes, "well I thought it would…y'know, me being a greaser and all…"

Shaking my head quickly I grinned at him, "no, it's not a problem for me at all, is it a problem for you?"

"No…" Ponyboy said a little unsurely.

"Good, then lets sign these contracts so we can start off our session-um, tomorrow I mean."

Nodding in agreement, we both signed the papers and handed them to Mrs. Freedman who assured us that she would make a copy for each of us and hand the original ones to Mr. Johnston tomorrow.

As we entered the hallway I told Ponyboy that I had to get back to the field for cheer practice and reminded him that I'd be stopping by his house tomorrow around five o'clock for our lesson. After saying goodbye I hurriedly made my way out to the field and joined the rest of the team.

After practice I swung by work and quickly changed into my required candy stripped poufy shirt, crisped white shirt and roller blades before skating around the joint to serve hungry teens their ice cream. For whatever reason Duncan decided that even though I missed an hour of work he would still pay me for that hour and even assured me that I didn't have to make up for it which I couldn't help but feel suspicious about. Luckily eight o'clock rolled around pretty quick and I managed to make it to the bus stop in time for the 8:05pm bus.

When I finally reached home I was greeted with a plate of my grandma's deep fried chicken with mash potato and corn. Devouring the much deserved food I chatted a bit with my grandma before heading upstairs to start my homework.

Just as I was getting through my English poetry assignment I felt the sudden wave of sleepiness hit me. I must have lost the battle to my exhaustion because the next thing I knew was that it was 1:00am and I had drool all over my English assignment as well as pencil stuck firmly to my cheek. Prying the pencil off my cheek I climbed into bed with the promise of taking a quick shower in the morning.

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 _A/N: Hope you guys didn't feel the story was too slow or boring. I promise that the other members of the gang will be introduced in the next chapter! Please review._


	2. Chapter 2: No Cookies For Sales

_A/N: Forgot the little disclaimer so here we go:_

 _I do not own Outsiders I just own my own characters and yadayada!_

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"Again, what's the police station's number?"

"9-1-1."

"The fire station's number?"

"9-1-1?"

"Good, now what's _my_ number?"

"Oh, I don't know Millie is it 9-1-1?" I snapped.

Whipping around in her seat from the front passenger side of Grant's Mustang, Millie shoot me a dirty look, "hey, tone down the sass there! I'm just looking after you."

Pinching my eyes shut, I focused on calming down. Millie was right- I needed to tone down the sass no matter how ridiculous she was being.

Opening my eyes again I looked at Millie and sighed, "I'm sorry, I know you are just looking after me. I'm just a little tired." I really was tired. It was an incredibly hot Friday afternoon here in Tulsa and my day was nowhere near over despite being a very long one.

For starters, after waking up late this morning I had to rush through my morning routine which almost left me very little time to finish up my English homework. Then during school my Math and Science teacher decided to spring us with pop quizzes but thankfully I managed to read the assigned pages on the bus ride to school. Unfortunately I forgot my lunch at home as well as my wallet which meant that I had to skip lunch. Yes, I could have just mooched some money off my friends and bought something from the cafeteria but today's lunch was less than appealing so I had to go through the next three periods and an hour long cheer practice with an empty stomach. Just when I was excited to go straight home since I didn't have work today, Mr. Johnston had spotted me at my locker and wished me luck with my session today.

So here I was, on my way to Ponyboy Curtis' house with Grant, Millie and Kayla. Since I didn't have car Kayla had offered to drop me a ride with her boyfriend after practice. The only reason why Millie was with us was because she was convinced that I should rethink my idea of tutoring a greaser. Like Kayla, Millie was less than enthusiastic of hearing that I would be tutoring a greaser and less than enthusiastic to hear that I'd be going to a predominately greaser neighborhood alone.

Softening her expression Millie ran a hand through her wavy blonde hair, "it's alright I should probably tone down with my drill sergeant routine,"

"Probably," I laughed lightly, "besides I'm sure there will be no point for me to call the police department, the fire station _and_ you. I'm just going to be going over some math problems with the kid."

"Hmm, still you never know," Kayla said, crossing her arms and keeping her gaze focused from the side of the window a scowl settled on her face, "ugh, this neighborhood looks totally dangerous."

Peeking from my side of the car I looked out the window. Sure there were a couple rundown looking houses and some beat up looking car parked around but it was hardly dangerous looking.

"You need to be careful around here." Grant said as he made a left turn, "this place is full of greasers so you need to be careful when leaving. If you want I can pick you up later,"

"That's fine, I'll be later." Gritting my teeth, I settled my gaze on the passing scenery.

While my friends talked amongst themselves all I could think about was how hungry I was. Maybe Ponyboy would have some snacks put together for our session, hmm; I wouldn't mind some sandwiches or even a milkshake.

"Okay, looks like we are here," The sound of Grant's voice instantly brought me back to reality.

Focusing on the house that we just stopped next to was a fairly nice looking house with a blue pickup truck parked in the drive way and another car parked next to it. Does Ponyboy drive? I had a feeling that he probably didn't which meant that his Guardian must be home today.

Pulling up to the house Millie twisted from her front seat again and pointed a finger at me, "remember if anything happens call me-"

"I thought I was supposed to call the police?" I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Point is if anything happens just call the appropriate people or at least call one of us so we can come and get you," Grant interrupted,

"Which something probably will," Kayla added under her breath.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I opened the door, "I'll be fine but I will definitely call you if something happens."

"Good, if you need a lift later then I'll come get you." Grant said with a knowing look.

Getting out of the car I assured everyone that I'd be fine and to not worry too much. After saying their reluctant goodbyes they finally pulled away and I was finally alone.

As I made my way to up the stairs and onto the porch I could feel trickles of sweat sliding down the back of my neck and disappearing into my cheer uniform top. At that moment I realized like I probably looked like a hot mess- literally. After cheer practice I hadn't bothered to change out of my cheer uniform which consisted of a honey mustard pleated skirt with burgundy borders and a matching sleeveless top with 'wild cats' written in big black cursive letters across the front. Since we had been practicing one of tumbling routines I had my hair pulled back in a high ponytail with wisp of hair framing my flushed and sweaty face.

Wiping a bead of sweat from my upper lip I adjusted my backpack and knocked the door.

Frowning a bit I couldn't help but be a little annoyed at the fact that I could hear people chattering inside yet no one acknowledged the knock at the door. Raising my hand to knock again the front door suddenly swung open to reveal a tall white blond guy with a scowl on his face.

Eyes widening a bit I was taken aback by the guy's gaze. Why was he glaring at me like that with those bright blue eyes?

"What?" The boy spat, narrowing his eyes even more at him he shoved a lock of his long white blond hair that had fallen into his eyes.

Opening my mouth to say something I found myself a little speechless at the sheer rudeness of this guy. I had learned from Grant that Ponyboy did have two older brothers but only one of them had been in the same grade as us before dropping out. I had also heard that his older brothers were fairly nice and one was supposedly even movie star handsome- obviously I heard this from other girls on the team. Still gaping at the glaring guy in front of me I couldn't help but wonder if I had been fed false information. I mean sure the guy in front of me wasn't bad looking but he certainly wasn't movie star gorgeous- and even then he didn't seem so nice either.

"Are you going to just stand there with that stupid look on your face?" The boy snarled before slamming the door in my face.

The sheer force of the door being slammed caused a cool yet short gust of wind to cause my ponytail to sway lightly.

 _Did he just do that?_ I thought, still gaping at the door. At that point I wasn't really sure if I wanted to knock again. Ponyboy did say it would be alright for me to come over but seemed like his brother wasn't so keen on inviting me in.

Raising my hand to knock again I was spotted by the voices inside. While before all I could hear were senseless chatters now I could hear very clear and somewhat anger voices talking amongst themselves inside.

"Who was that Dally?" some muffled voice asked from inside.

Dally huh? So the jerk had a name.

"Just some girl scout or something," Dally drawled still sounding annoyed, "she didn't say anything though, just stood there staring at me with some stupid look on her face."

At that a loud, boisterous laugh sounded from the room, "ah Dally now why'd you have to scare her off like that, I would've liked some cookies. Was she cute though?"

"Shut it Two-Bit," was Dally's grumpy reply.

Narrowing my eyes at the door I felt the sudden urge to jump and throttle this so called Dally. Who did he think he was? Did I look like a damn girl scout? I wasn't even holding any cookies!

Lifting my hand again I knocked loudly and waited with a scowl on my face. If that Dally person slammed the door again in my face again then I might just kick down the door- might.

This time when the door swung open I wasn't met with a pair of narrowed blazing blue eyes, instead I found myself gazing into a pair of clear, cold green eyes which were staring at me questioningly.

This time not wanting to have the door slammed in my face again I quickly cleared my throat and stuck my hand out, "Hello, I'm Daphne Cree and I'm looking for Ponyboy Curtis."

At this green eyed man raised a brow and gave me a quick once over, "and why are you looking for Ponyboy?"

"Um, well I'm here to tutor him? In math?" fidgeting under his heavy gaze I adjusted my bag again, "Uh, I spoke with Ponyboy yesterday and he-"

"Who are you talking to Darry?" a voice interrupted. Suddenly a head popped out from behind Darry. Standing behind him was slim boy who couldn't have been any older than sixteen with golden blond hair that was slicked back just like Ponyboy but with a few strands slung across his eyes. Unlike the towering, muscle man in front of me this kid had warm green eyes that studied me briefly before a wide smile erupted on his face. "Hey there, you selling any chocolate cookies?"

What was with these people? Did it look like I was holding any cookies?!

Clearing my throat again I shook my head, "uh no, I'm looking for Ponyboy?"

"Ponyboy?" the boy's green eyes widen dramatically "Ponyboy? Are you his girlfriend?"

Thankful for my dark complexion I was grateful that neither of the two could see my blush. It wasn't like I had a crush on Ponyboy or anything but I did have to admit that being studied by two considerably good looking guys was a terribly intimidating.

"No she's apparently Ponyboy's tutor," Darry answered, shooting me another look a small smile appeared on his face, "I'm sorry about that. I'm Ponyboy's brother and he didn't mention anything about a tutor…"

"Unless she's lying and really is his girlfriend," the younger of the two joked causing Darry to nudge him in the side,

"Can it Soda,"

Soda…as in a _drink_? That's kid name was _Soda_?!

"Hold on a second," Darry said facing me. Turning around Darry cupped his mouth with a hand and hollered for Ponyboy.

Almost instantly I spotted Ponyboy coming out from one the rooms and looking mighty annoyed. Just one glance from him I could immediately tell that he must have forgotten that I was coming over today. Clad in a pair of well worn jeans and a black tee shirt it looked like Ponyboy had just finished his shower and was probably lounging around in his room.

Coming towards the door Ponyboy's eyes widen a bit and a small blush crept up his neck. Yup, it looked like he definitely forgot.

Ignoring Darry and Soda, I waved at Ponyboy, "Hey, did you forget I was coming over?"

"Forget? Ponyboy what did you forget?" Darry questioned with a frown.

"Nothing Darry, I just forgot that my tutor was coming over today." Ponyboy responded avoiding Darry's frown.

"You have a tutor? Why didn't you tell me about that? Are you failing something?" Darry's rapidly ask- clearly forgetting I wasn't standing there.

"No, I'm not." Ponyboy replied curtly, "I just have a tutor-"

"I can see that Pony but I'm asking you why you have one," Darry shot back clearly annoyed.

"Lay off Superman, I'm sure Ponyboy's fine." Soda interjected, "besides having a tutor ain't a bad thing,"

"Yeah," Ponyboy agreed.

Turning back to face me, Darry studied me _again_ and then waved me in. "Come in then."

Bending down to take off my shoes, Soda assured me that it wasn't necessary and led me inside and into the living room where I was met we another four pair of eyes. I already knew that those blazing blue eyes belonged to Dally and another pair belonged to someone called Two-Bit. As for the other two I could recognize them. Sitting cross legged across a small foot table was Steve Randle and sitting hunched next to the still scowling Dally was Johnny Cade. I knew Steve and Johnny from school. Just like me they were both juniors and like Ponyboy they were greasers. The only reason I recognized Steve was because Kayla and Sarah liked to rant about some rude 'douche bag' down at the DX who kept running into while Sarah was looking for some handsome guy who happened to work there. Johnny on the other hand was pretty much known at school for being brutally beat up by some socs a few months ago.

"Well why didn't you just say she was cute?" Two-Bit grinned giving me a very obvious once over,

Slapping him upside the head, Dally growled at him to shut it which only caused Two Bit to grin even wider.

Shooting a tiny glare in Dally's direction I looked at Ponyboy, "I guess you forgot I was coming over huh?"

Scratching the back of his neck like yesterday, he shrugged "kind of…"

"Always has his head in the clouds and his nose in books," Steve said with a nasty edge.

"It's alright though," ignoring Steve I smiled, "um so do you still want to go over the lesson or would you like to meet another time?"

"Today's fine- uh well actually I should probably ask Darry if that's alright."

At this Darry sighed, "Well dinner is almost done, how long are you two going to take?"

"Uh about two hours but I can always just leave if this a bad time-"

"What are you tutoring him in?" Darry asked,

"Math, Algebra and Geometry to be specific,"

Running a hand over his face he sighed, "if you were struggling in math why didn't you just say something Pony?"

"Actually it was Mrs. Freedman- his teacher who requested for me. She felt like he was struggling a bit in class and just needed some extra help," I answered before Pony, "we met yesterday and Ponyboy said it was alright or me to stop by today but he must have forgot and since it's dinner time I don't want to intrude or anything-"

"You can always stay for dinner," Soda offered which instantly caused my stomach to growl.

"I don't want to intrude…"

"It's alright, you can stay. It will also give us time for us to discuss this tutoring business." Darry said.

"Okay then if you're sure. Thank you." Bowing slightly towards them I glanced around the room. "So where do you want to study?"

Obviously the living room was out of the question, especially with the way Dally was glaring at me and it wasn't like we could stay in the kitchen either.

"We uh…uh, we can go to my room," Pony stammered unsurely. Clearly he wasn't sure about it.

"Keep the door open!" Two-Bit yelled with a goofy look on his face causing Pony to blush again and earning a slap upside the head from Dally. "No need to rough Dally!" he whined, "I'm just looking out for Pony. It's not every day you get your cheerleader fantasy played out!"

Blushing even harder I was actually worried that Pony might pass out from all that blood rushing to his face. "You room is fine,"

Nodding, Ponyboy led the way to his room and avoided the teasing jabs from Two-Bit.

Finally entering his room I looked over the room. There wasn't much in the room but it wasn't sparse either. There was a queen sized bed in the corner of the room with clothes littered over it. In the corner there was a bookshelf piled high with various books and next to it was a desk that was covered in what I assumed to be Ponyboy's homework. On the other side of the medium sized room was a wardrobe that was drowned under a never ending pile of clothes.

"Sorry for the mess," Ponyboy muttered, obviously embarrassed to be caught off guard like this.

"It's not a problem," Making my way to his desk I gather the papers and books and piled them on the side of the desk and then placed my own notes and workbook that I prepared for him. Luckily there were two chairs at the desk. Taking a seat I gestured for him to sit next to me.

"Sorry about forgetting and also for early,"

"That guy is just plain rude," I huffed, "Dally I mean, what's his problem? I thought your brother would be nicer!"

"Uh, he's not my brother," Ponyboy said with a weird yet amused look "the two that offered that you stay for dinner are my brothers."

"Oh," I should have figured. After all, they all kind of shared the same green eyes. "So, um can I ask you a question?"

Looking intently at me I assumed he wanted me to continue. "Is your name actually…" trailing off I was wondering if I should continue asking my question, I didn't want to offend him or anything.

"Yeah, that's my name. Everyone always ask me that but my parents' kind of got creative when it came to Ponyboy and Sodapop." Ponyboy must have caught the shock look on my face because he a small smile appeared on his face, "so yeah, that is my really name."

"Oh, uh," tripping over myself I let out a small laugh "So is Darry his real name or was it Superman?"

Laughing out loud Ponyboy shook his head, "it's actually Darrel but we call him Darry for short and Superman is just his nickname."

"Another question- I was told you have a guardian…so does this mean…?"

"Yeah," Ponyboy said with his smile fading. I probably shouldn't have asked but I was curious.  
"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked," quickly looking to change the subject I dug into my bag and laid fished for a pen "so are you ready to go over some math?"

"Not really but I don't have a choice do I?" he sighed as he reached for his own pencil.

For the next ten minutes I had Ponyboy go through the placement test I made for him to see which areas we had to focus on. When he finally finished the workbook I began to look over it only to hear a knock at the door.

Turning around we both saw that Soda was grinning at us, "Hey you two, how's the _studying_ going?"

I didn't exactly like the way he said studying- especially since I could see another blush creeping over Pony's neck.

"It's good, just checking his work now," I replied.

"Well we are serving dinner right now and Darry sent me to get you two."

Glancing out into the living room I could hear that the others were still there which probably meant that they were staying over for dinner too.

Sighing internally I had to admit that I was less than enthusiastic about having to see Dally again but I was hungry.

Pushing my chair away from the desk I prepared to have dinner with greasers- one in particular that appeared to already hate my box.

* * *

 _A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please review._


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